— Now you can add your self to the primary crew to launch to the moon in additional than 50 years.
As a part of the preparations main as much as the Artemis II mission subsequent yr, NASA is inviting the general public to hitch the flight’s 4 astronauts, if solely in identify.
“Artemis II is… a possibility to encourage folks throughout the globe and to offer them a possibility to observe alongside as we prepared the ground in human exploration deeper into house,” Lori Glaze, performing affiliate administrator within the Exploration Methods Improvement Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, mentioned a press release.
Anybody can add their identify to fly on the 10-day mission by registering totally free on NASA’s web site. The company’s “Ship Your Identify with Artemis II” marketing campaign might be open to submissions by Jan. 21, 2026.
After registering, individuals can obtain a collectible “boarding move” affirming that their identify might be aboard the mission’s Orion spacecraft. The entire names might be saved on a flash reminiscence card, which might be added to the Artemis II Official Flight Package, alongside different commemoratives being flown by NASA and its companions.
1000’s have folks have already added their names to the hassle.
The 4 Artemis II crew members are commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialist Christina Koch, all of NASA, and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen with the Canadian House Company. They would be the first folks to voyage to the moon for the reason that Apollo missions.
Artemis II, which is focused to launch no later than April 2026, is the newest flight to incorporate a “fly your identify” marketing campaign. The same assortment was carried out for the uncrewed Artemis I flight, which resulted in 3.4 million folks signing as much as be on the 26-day lunar orbit in late 2022.
Different NASA missions to incorporate a flash drive or microchip inscribed with names have included the OSIRIS-REx asteroid pattern return (442,803 names), the Parker photo voltaic probe (1,137,202), the Perseverance Mars rover (10,932,295) and the Europa Clipper (2,620,861), which is on its option to a 2030 arrival at Jupiter’s ocean-covered moon.
Among the many first “fly your identify” campaigns launched with NASA’s Stardust probe to Comet Wild 2 in 1999. Two microchips, one contained in the pattern return capsule and the opposite on the comet mud assortment arm, held greater than one million names, together with all 52,214 inscribed on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington. The Stardust microchip that returned to Earth is now on show contained in the Kenneth C. Griffin Exploring the Planets Gallery on the Nationwide Air and House Museum.
